Milken Time: Wall Street jets west for 'Davos with palm trees'

If Wall Street's masters of the universe can make it to the Swiss Alps, they're definitely going to Los Angeles.

The financial community will once again figure prominently at the Milken Institute's Global Conference next week—sometimes called "Davos with palm trees"—just like they did at the World Economic Forum in January. (Tweet This)

The conference's purpose is to bring "leading thinkers in disparate disciplines" to "exchange ideas and solve some of the world's toughest challenges," according to marketing materials.

Many of the 3,500 participants and more than 650 speakers hail from the financial world—perhaps to be expected given that most tickets for private-sector attendees cost between $10,000 and $12,500 apiece. Both price points are sold out.

Financial firms also represent about half of the 85 listed sponsors. Many of the sponsors are led by executives that worked at Milken's old firm, Drexel Burnham Lambert, including Crescent Capital (Mark Attanasio) Apollo (Black and Josh Harris), Jefferies (Rich Handler), Canyon Partners (Mitch Julis), Leonard Green (Jon Sokoloff) and LWPartners (Leon Wagner)

But the conference also allows for Wall Street's elite to make some unusual connections. Cohen, for instance, had drinks with New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez at a nearby hotel bar and chatted with with hotel magnate Steve Wynn in between sessions at the last go-round.

Update: An earlier version said Kenya's president was attending, however, his trip was canceled Friday, according to StarAfrica.